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GOSPEL POWER l APRIL 3, 2022 - SUNDAY
GOSPEL POWER l APRIL 3, 2022 - SUNDAY
5th Sunday of Lent
Gospel: Jn 8:1-11
1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
Determined to bring an incontestable accusation against Jesus, the Jewish religious leaders are ready to let another human being perish as a helpless pawn in the trap they are setting up for Jesus. The law, which is holy, becomes a mere instrument to prop up their wicked plot. Jesus’ strange gesture of stooping down to write on the ground is an eloquent expression of his refusal to join them in condemning the woman. The physical gesture also symbolizes a descent into one’s interior to be in touch with one’s inmost self. This is precisely what Jesus implies when he declares that the sinless among the woman’s accusers must be the first to stone her. He dares each one of them to bend inward and look into his heart. The truth stared them in the face, so that no one could rise to the challenge. In Jesus, the only sinless person in that crowd, the woman meets not condemnation but mercy and a new orientation in life: “… do not sin anymore.”
Lord Jesus, before we condemn anyone, summon us to bend inward and be in touch with our own sinfulness and need for mercy. Amen.
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By Daughters of St. Paul | Phil-Malaysia- PNG-Thai Province
5
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GOSPEL POWER l APRIL 3, 2022 - SUNDAY
5th Sunday of Lent
Gospel: Jn 8:1-11
1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
Determined to bring an incontestable accusation against Jesus, the Jewish religious leaders are ready to let another human being perish as a helpless pawn in the trap they are setting up for Jesus. The law, which is holy, becomes a mere instrument to prop up their wicked plot. Jesus’ strange gesture of stooping down to write on the ground is an eloquent expression of his refusal to join them in condemning the woman. The physical gesture also symbolizes a descent into one’s interior to be in touch with one’s inmost self. This is precisely what Jesus implies when he declares that the sinless among the woman’s accusers must be the first to stone her. He dares each one of them to bend inward and look into his heart. The truth stared them in the face, so that no one could rise to the challenge. In Jesus, the only sinless person in that crowd, the woman meets not condemnation but mercy and a new orientation in life: “… do not sin anymore.”
Lord Jesus, before we condemn anyone, summon us to bend inward and be in touch with our own sinfulness and need for mercy. Amen.